Our Bureau

Hyderabad , June 23

THE Indian School of Business (ISB) has more than doubled its student intake for the class of 2005 up from 126 in its first batch to 276, with 25 per cent of them coming with international experience and 19 per cent women students.

The ISB has plans to eventually take its programme strength to 560 over the next few years. Its focus on increasing the number of women students in its post graduate programme has seen the number go up to 52 this year, up from 40 last year. The intake this year is by far the highest and makes one of the largest B school in India, according to an ISB press release.

The class of 2005 has a mix of professionals including engineers and CAs, finance professionals, marketing strategists and entrepreneurs. Adding an extra edge to this blend are students with unique profiles — two mountaineers and two students who hold patents for technological innovations, a student from the World Bank and another who worked with an NGO in Bangladesh.

ISB has made focussed efforts this year to target students from non A class cities, resulting in 152 students from cities such as Jaipur, Kozhikode, Nagpur, Chandigarh and Indore. While the average age of students is 27 years, GMAT score is 690, with 5 years of prior work experience, respectively.

Many of the students in the class of 2005 also come with international work experience. Besides students from Germany, the US, Canada, the UK, and UAE, the class has 49 non-resident Indians from Switzerland, Indonesia and South Korea.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu Business Line